No Federally Sponsored Research or Development is involved.
1. Field of the Invention
This invention relates to an air ionization method, apparatus and design. The invention specifically relates to a method of supplying charged air to spark ignition or diesel internal combustion engines (ICE).
2. Discussion of Background
Many vehicle owners in the U.S. and globally depend upon motorized vehicles for everyday transportation. Vehicles are an integral part of everyone""s lives and motorists are concerned with the availability of fossil fuels to power their vehicles, the economics of fueling vehicles, dependence upon foreign suppliers for oil and retaining the size and power of vehicles they are accustomed to for transportation and occupational related needs.
Heretofore many solutions have been proposed and some marketed to enhance internal combustion through various air ionization generators and devices to swirl air entering induction manifolds or cylinders. Air ionization apparatus have relied on known technology of applying an external voltage to two electrodes, creating a discharge between them and passing air through the spark thereby exciting the molecules of air such that they collide, split and produce negative and positive ions. Air swirl devices rely on air deflection vanes to create turbulent air flow to push more air into combustion cylinders.
These devices have numerous variations, most of which are effective in producing air ionization or swirling air. However, few have had significant commercial success due to difficulty of installation, requirements for engine-specific fit or failure to provide measurable benefits to consumers. In fact, the Federal Trade Commission has been unable to find any measurable benefit from devices they have tested.1 
Atmospheric conditioning devices have not been tested by the FTC as none have achieved commercial success in the consumer marketplace. However, Argonne National Laboratories2 in conjunction with Compact Membrane Systems3 have demonstrated it is possible to use atmospheric conditioning to achieve significant improvements in ICE performance.
Inherent in existing ionization technology is creating a spark between electrodes powered by an external voltage source. While original equipment manufacturers (OEM) could design such capability into their vehicles, they have chosen not to do so. Further, OEM have not allowed for such capability within the electrical systems of vehicles manufactured in past years. Consequently, installation of air ionization devices requiring an external voltage source is impossible or very difficult for motorists to install in their current vehicles.
Currently there are over 200 million vehicles in the U.S.4 Fully 50% of those vehicles are classified as xe2x80x9cgas guzzlersxe2x80x9d including SUVs, trucks and large engine automobiles. While a huge research and development effort is taking place in the area of hydrogen fuel cells and other alternative energy sources, dependence on fossil fuels will continue to be with us many years due to massive numbers of ICE currently in use and continuing ICE production as other methods of vehicular power are phased into the marketplace.
Most vehicle owners, therefore, would find ICE enhancement devices desirable that are relatively inexpensive, simple to install with common tools into their current vehicles, require no external voltage source, require no user maintenance and provide significant performance benefits for vehicular applications. Benefits of this preferred embodiment include increased mileage, more power and reduced emissions when used in conjunction with internal combustion engines.
Other inventors have developed various apparatus intended to swirl inducted air thus increasing the amount of air available for combustion, increased fuel droplet atomization and evaporation to provide benefits of better mileage, more horsepower, cleaner combustion and reduced exhaust emissions. These devices have met with modest consumer acceptance and little scientific acclaim.
Prior art is replete with static electricity inventions.10 Prior art is also replete with inventions designed to increase the efficiency of internal combustion engines. Many of these inventions have focused on techniques designed to improve the mixing of air and fuel using swirling air as a means to enhance efficiency through a combination of further atomization, nebulization of fuel droplets and more rapid evaporation.
Moin and Kim stated in a Scientific American article:11 
xe2x80x9cTurbulence, however, is not simply an unfortunate phenomenon to be eliminated at every opportunity. Far from it: many engineers work hard trying to increase it. In the cylinders of an internal-combustion engine, for example, turbulence enhances the mixing of fuel and oxidizer and produces cleaner, more efficient combustion.xe2x80x9d
Many methods and apparatus to create turbulence external to combustion cylinders have been invented since 1932. In U.S. Pat. No. 6,041,753, Lin and Yang with Assignees of China Motor Company and others, clearly demonstrate performance benefits of swirling air in a Multi Port Fuel Injection engine. In U.S. Pat. No. 5,947,081, Kim discloses an air swirl system suitable for:
xe2x80x9cspark ignition internal combustion engine of the carburetor type or of the fuel injection type, as well as a diesel engine of the high compression, self-ignition type.xe2x80x9d
Other examples of inventions to swirl air to enhance combustion are found in: U.S. Pat. No. 1,396,154; U.S. Pat. No. 4,515,138; U.S. Pat. No. 5,685,281, U.S. Pat. No. 6,158,412; and U.S. Pat. No. 6,041,753. The disclosures of these patents are incorporated herein by reference.
The above references include methods and apparatus solely designed to swirl air. No additional conditioning or enhancement of air chemistry is mentioned. This preferred embodiment not only incorporates a static vortex generator as a turbulence device to enhance combustion but also uses the resulting vortex to deliver reactive ionized air pneumatically to a combustion environment within the cylinders.
Prior art is replete with numerous patents to enhance combustion gases. In U.S. Pat. No. 5,010,869, Lee discloses one benefit of introducing ionization byproducts into the combustion process:
xe2x80x9cFurthermore, electrically charged liquid fuel droplets resist coalescing into larger droplets, thereby permitting the fuel to be mixed more thoroughly with the airxe2x80x9d
In U.S. Pat. No. 5,487,874, Gibboney discloses:
xe2x80x9cUpon exiting the ion generator, the charged molecules are mixed with air or other combustion gas supplied to the engine. The charged molecules produce a denser, oxygen-enriched air charge, resulting in longer and hotter burns, creating more torque and horsepower for the same percentage of throttle.xe2x80x9d
Addressing air velocity, Gibboney also discloses the ionization of air affects the amount and quality of air:
Automobiles run better after a thunderstorm. This phenomenon is primarily caused by the natural conditions that exist after an electrical storm, namely, the presence of ozone and an increase in the relative amount of negative ions in the air. These conditions increase the efficiency of the internal combustion process by correcting conditions in the engine that decrease efficiency: first, an air charge that has more negative ions is denser than an air charge with a higher positive:negative ion ratio. (The term xe2x80x9cair chargexe2x80x9d refers to the quantity of air supplied to the cylinder during a single cycle.) Second, an air charge that is rich in negative ions generates a greater forward velocity because the negative ions are attracted to the positive ionic charge that exists in a cylinder after the previous bum, thus increasing the amount of air that enters the cylinder, the bum time and temperature. Third, ozone (O.sub.3) contains more oxygen than diatomic oxygen (O.sub.2). The combination of a denser air charge and more oxygen, coupled with increased bum time and temperature, increases the cylinder pressure, which increases the engine torque and horsepower output. By increasing the engine""s ability to do work, less fuel is used to perform the same work as an engine in a normal situation.
The disclosures of these patents are incorporated herein by reference.
When ionization occurs in this embodiment, negative and positive ions and ozone are created. Ionized air is entered directly into the center of the vortex. Air is moving between 50 and 100 mph in an ICE so the time for the ionized air to move from the device to the combustion area is very fast. During that time, positive ions are attracted to the negative ions and to the grounding of the engine (opposite charges attract) and are instantly neutralized. Some Ozone (O.sub.3) is heavy and caught in the vortex spin and neutralized when in contact with engine parts. Negative ions are repelled by the negative grounding (like charges repel) and have a higher survivorship in passing into the combustion area where they instantaneously combine with atomized fuel particles and the positive charge left after the previous combustion. Ionization thusly makes the air xe2x80x9cslick,xe2x80x9d reducing drag and permitting larger amounts of air to enter the combustion chambers and creates a more efficient combustion environment within cylinders.
See Information Disclosure Statement and enclosed reprints.
This invention uses a combination of both air turbulence and ionization through the combination of physics, electrostatics12 and chemistry in a novel method and apparatus.
The problems with prior art air ionization systems for internal combustion engines and other applications have been the requirement of an external voltage source to power ionization. This requirement makes retrofitting of such systems extremely difficult for vehicles already manufactured and in use. Few aftermarket vehicle owners are likely to attempt installing devices requiring hard wiring to the existing vehicle""s electrical system. No prior art inventions have specifically integrated air turbulence with air ionization.
This embodiment uses the dielectric properties of polymers configured as a rotary electrophorus such that no external power source is required other than air velocity created by an ICE to ionize air. Consequently, the apparatus can be installed into virtually any vehicle or other ICE configuration with little more than common tools such as scissors and screwdriver. The ease of installation is well within the means of average consumers.
The charged molecules and negative ions produce denser, oxygen-enriched air charge, higher intake air velocity and turbulence, resulting in longer and hotter burns, creating more torque and horsepower for the same percentage of throttle.
Other features and advantages of the present invention will be apparent to those skilled in the art from a careful reading of the Detailed Description of a Preferred Embodiment presented herein and accompanied by the drawing.